When losing argument, just change the subject

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators News Service.. He is the author or co-author of 13 books, including his latest, "The Tea Party Manifesto," and his classic, "Taking America Back," now in its third edition and 14th printing. Farah is the former editor of the legendary Sacramento Union and other major-market dailies.

A Democratic member of Congress says he was spat upon by tea-party protesters at the Capitol during the debate over health care.

Another Democratic member of Congress says racial epithets were hurled at him as he passed by the same rally.

And yet another Democratic member of Congress claims he was called a “fag” by someone as he innocently walked by the tea-party activists.

On the basis of these reports – all unverified and, in fact, contested by eyewitnesses – some in the media seem ready to open up internment camps for the entire tea-party movement.

Their hysteria over these minor altercations, if they are even real, is what you might expect if the Capitol had experienced an American version of Krystallnacht or at least the burning of the Reichstag.

First of all, the member who was allegedly spat upon by one individual refused to press charges. That’s what the Capitol Police reported. Let me ask you a question: If someone spat on you and there was a police officer there to arrest the individual, would you refuse to press charges? If you did refuse to adjudicate the matter, would you then go out and do countless interviews and send out press releases condemning millions of people for the actions of one?

I guess you would if you were a Democratic member of Congress facing a nation angry at your legislative and constitutional abuses that would justify, in another time and place, being tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. I guess you would if you were a Democratic member of Congress trying to indict your political opposition for something that may or may not have occurred at all. I guess you would if you were a Democratic member of Congress who needed very badly to change the subject dominating the country – your own ruthless, unjustifiable, anti-American, socialist power grab.

And how about that second case?

Eyewitnesses, both black and white, said no racial epithets were heard at all. The tea-party nation is a racially heterogenous group. Can you imagine even one tea-party protester tossing around racial invectives from within a group including folks of different races? It seem on the face of it implausible – unless, of course, you are a member of the elite media and aren’t aware of the fact that the tea-party movement isn’t lily white. Further, this account is actually disputed by at least one black tea partier who observed the entire incident.

Lastly, the third allegation, by one Rep. Barney Frank, was, according to tea-party eyewitnesses, actually provoked by the member of Congress. According to several present, Frank responded to the chants of “kill the bill” with an obscene shout of “f— you.” It was then, and only then, that one infuriated tea-party protester used a much less offensive f-word in response. By the way, according to the eyewitnesses, the emotionally agitated offender was shouted down by many of those around him for lowering himself to the standards of the openly homosexual (and proud) Frank.

Nevertheless, to say that propaganda outlets like MSNBC are making a mountain out of a molehill about the danger of violence and chaos the tea-party movement poses to the republic is an understatement.

Let me explain what all this delirium is about: It’s about changing the subject.

The Democratic members of Congress know they took a very unpopular stand. They know they are going to pay a huge political price for ignoring the will of the people. Even they know they pushed the Constitution beyond its outer limits with this legislation, made up the rules as they went along and got their way only by hooker and crookery.

And they are tired of defending their indefensible actions.

So they created a brushfire, a diversion, a distraction, a red herring so they could portray themselves not as the villains they truly are, but the victims in this drama.

But, even with the help of most of the media, it won’t work. You can only use these tactics so often before the people catch on to what’s really happening.

As a public person myself and someone who takes controversial positions all the time, I can tell you these alleged “threats” and “abuses” are nothing compared to what I experience every day.

The only member of Congress to have experienced a bona fide act of violence was a Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, who had gunshot go through his window and has received actual anti-Semitic threats faxed to him. He can show you those bullet holes and those letters. They aren’t a matter of conjecture or dispute.

But Cantor and other honest people in the public eye know the last thing you do is issue press releases when you get threats like this. Members of Congress have a dozen law enforcement and investigative agencies they can turn to deal with the individuals who threaten them. That’s the proper way to address real actions that pose a real danger.

However, if your goal is simply to score cheap, dishonest political points and change the subject, the Democrats are handling this matter just right.